Rail cars that dump rock, pebble and/or gravel, or ballast rock, need a way to spread the ballast. Ballast car plows are found and used in the railroad industry, particularly in the “Maintenance of Way” division of a railroad. Along railroad tracks, ballast, is dumped where it will pile above the top of railroad track rails, particularly during railroad track maintenance and new construction. Optimal railroad track conditions depend on ballast distribution and maintenance. Prior to the invention, the only option was a plow mounted on the front end of a rail car, and the only way the ballast could be spread out with current technology would be where the rail car is traveling in one direction. The embodiment of the present invention is the only bi-directional ballast rock plow known in the industry. The industry needs a more efficient and cost-effectiveness means of placing ballast on railroad tracks.
Screeting, or shedding, rail ballast away from, and even with, the top of rails after being dumped out of ballast rail cars, and in either direction of rail car movement, are desired features for distributing ballast. Rock to a railroad bed should be moved in such a fashion to fill the crib level (the level of the space between the rails) to the top of a rail and move access rock far enough away from the center of the railroad track to allow other railroad equipment to follow and work without coming in contact with ballast. A plow needs to be mounted directly to existing ballast rail cars and utilize existing power currently used in operating the railcar ballast gates to extend and retract, or move vertically up, from their working position to their travel position under the ballast car.
The invention includes a plow designed to screet off ballast to a level dumped between the rails even with the top of the rails, along a railroad track. The bi-directional ballast plow is designed to be mounted to automated ballast rail cars. This invention is mounted under the rail car, on the rail car sill, in the center of the car. The blades of the plow have independent, articulating action, whereby each blade can move in the direction, moving side-to-side, necessary for the way the rock is stockpiled and the direction the rail car is moving. The blades articulate or pivot in a diagonal position in response to the direction of the rail car, yielding to the resistance of the ballast rock. The articulating blades move the ballast rock away from crib due to the diagonal, pivoted position of the blades. When the rail car reverses course, the blades again articulate or pivot in a diagonal position in response to the new direction of the rail car, yielding to the resistant of the ballast rock. Therefore, the direction of the rail car does not have to change in order to effectively plow the ballast.
Other ballast plow inventions have used two plows per car to plow ballast rock in either direction. With the preferred embodiment of the present invention, only one plow per car is required to screet ballast in either direction with the ballast plow. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 36.685 to Bounds (“Bounds”), U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,593 to Murray (“Murray”) and U.S. Pat. No. D638,751 S to Aaron, et al. (“Aaron”) all disclose plow blades which are fixed or static and non-articulating, and when raised for travel will fit within the guidelines of the Association of American Railroads (“AAR”) Plate C envelope (as described below), but which could not fit within the AAR requirements and at the same time have the same width for distributing ballast, as the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
None of the references of related art teach the invention as disclosed herein. None teach the use of a pair of independently movable blades for the plow member. The pairs of plow blades taught in the ballast plows of Murray. Bounds and Aaron are fixed and not independently movable. U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,297 to Kershaw (“Kershaw”) appears to teach a pair of interconnected articulating pair of plow blades (#80, #81) but the device is not for mounting to the underside of a railcar. U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,351 to Cox and U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,353 to Newman also appear to teach independently movable plow blades (#30 in each) but they are also not attached to the underside of a railcar. U.S. Patent Application #2012/0110877 to Theurer (“Theurer”) et al. teaches a vertically adjustable plow, however it does not appear to disclose a pair of blades that are independently articulated (FIG. 1).
Although the related art references all relate to ballast plows and several appear to disclose independently movable plow blades, operable in either direction of railcar movement and hydraulic means for directly lifting the blades, none of the references teach the spring box mechanism of the preferred embodiment of the present invention which allows the proposed blades to pivot independent of each other including a float spring for controlling pressure of the blade against the rail.
The invention is designed for increased safety and efficiency when distributing ballast, and operates to effectively screet in either direction that the rail car, to which the apparatus invention is attached, is moving. The apparatus has the ability to operate in either direction of rail car movement without the need for an operator to physically adjust the direction or position of the blades.
Critical to any functioning rail car ballast plow is to operate within the Association of American Railroads (AAR) railroad standard “AAR Plate C envelope”. The bi-directional plow when deployed in the down, or employed position, against the rails, is of one width (the standard is 9′6″ wide), yet when it is in the up, or retracted, position for transport is necessarily in a smaller width (the standard is 8′4½″), allowing it to fit in the AAR Plate C envelope. Other inventions in the related art have a fixed plow width within which to attempt to operate in the same manner as the embodiment of the present invention. However, the invention, the plow, lays rock, fills in the crib and moves access rock outside of the rails, beyond a standard railroad width (to as much as 9 foot 6 inches and not to exceed ten (10) feet). The plow allows for cross-level and maintains constant contact with the top of the rails. This allows for rail tamping by other equipment, without the use of regulating or ballast clearing equipment required by other plows in the industry.
The aforementioned patents do not disclose the safety locking latch mechanism of an embodiment of the present invention, operating with a hydraulic valve, and a dual spring and gravity return mechanism. Locking mechanisms in the related art, including the Bound and Murray patents use chain supported latch return mechanisms. The plow of the preferred embodiment of the present invention can be activated and operated from either side of the ballast our and does not require operators to be located simultaneously on each side of the car as in the related art.
There is no known technology, or related art, providing the same or similar results. Applicant knows of no other center-mounted articulating railroad plows in operation. There are currently only non-articulating rail fixed plows operating in the industry that are mounted on the ends or center of rail cars.